Business & labor
Two strikes. Two agreements. A changed Hollywood.
Revisit the turning points of the 2023 writers’ and actors’ strikes, through the announcements that put the industry back to work.
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23 articles
Film & awards
Oppenheimer’s night at the Oscars
The Academy’s official record is the place to start when the predictions give way to the results.
The business
Paramount and Skydance: the announcement
The July 2024 announcement offers a useful lesson in reading the difference between a deal being signed and a deal being completed.
The business
Barbenheimer: estimate versus final
Two openings became one cultural event. The numbers also show why a Sunday estimate, a weekend actual and a finished theatrical run should never be treated as the same result.
The business
The 2021 HBO Max experiment
The studio’s entire 2021 slate spent its first month in U.S. theaters and on HBO Max at once. The experiment changed windows, contracts and the meaning of a release.
Streaming
Quibi: format was not distribution
Quibi’s app disappeared in 2020, but its shows did not. Their second life on Roku separates a content format from the product built to distribute it.
The business
Maverick’s long theatrical runway
The sequel’s opening was large. Its months-long accumulation was the more revealing signal—and still did not mean the whole market had recovered.
Film & awards
Parasite’s four-win breakthrough
Best picture made history, but the full record matters: screenplay, directing and international feature trace how the Academy recognized the film.
Film & awards
EEAAO’s seven-win craft map
The 2023 winner list becomes more useful when its acting, editing, writing and directing awards are read as an interlocking production record.
Streaming
Why streaming charts are not interchangeable
A “view” can be a runtime-adjusted calculation, a chart can cover only televisions in one country, and a rank never reveals the distance between titles.
Law & culture
How the Spears conservatorship ended
A bounded court timeline from public testimony to termination, without importing later rumors, health claims or fee disputes.
Law & media
Two Depp–Heard cases, two records
Different defendants, publications, decision-makers and claims produced outcomes that should not be collapsed into a single truth score.
Law & media
Paltrow: clips versus verdict
The livestream supplied fashion commentary and one-liners. The verdict form supplied the legal outcome.
Photo: Paolo V / Paolo Villanueva · CC BY 2.0Music business
Swift’s masters, in her own words
The May 2025 letter established ownership of her early recordings; it did not disclose a purchase price.
Photo: Paolo V / Paolo Villanueva · CC BY 2.0Touring & box office
How to read the Eras Tour totals
Pollstar estimated $2.2 billion. Swift’s team reported $2.077 billion. Both point to a record, but they are not the same kind of number.
Music & awards
The five Grammy wins, category by category
The Recording Academy’s record is notable without repeating or validating the song’s allegations.
Media literacy
What the royal photo withdrawal teaches
The March 2024 “photo kill” was an image-integrity decision—not an invitation to speculate about a family’s health or private life.
Box office / Field guide
What a box-office number actually tells you
Territory, time window and accounting basis matter more than the size of the headline.
Law & likeness / Explainer
Who gets to say yes to a digital double?
The 2023 performer agreement and a 2024 federal report addressed different parts of the likeness problem.
Media literacy / Practical guide
Is that celebrity endorsement real?
Authenticity and advertising disclosure are separate checks. Passing one does not settle the other.
Law & likeness / Field guide
Read the court story without skipping a stage
A filing is not a finding. A settlement is not a jury verdict. Start by identifying the document.
Media literacy / Explainer
Follow the reporting, not the repetition
A practical way to tell independent corroboration from an expanding chain of attribution.
Photo: Carlos Delgado; CC-BY-SA · CC BY-SA 3.0Culture / Fashion
The exhibition behind the 2024 Met Gala
The dress code made headlines. The museum’s harder question was how to exhibit clothing that can no longer be worn.
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